Belt And Free End Securing System

ABSTRACT

A belt and free end securing system includes a belt that has a buckle end, a free end and a buckle attached to the buckle end. The buckle releasably secures the belt in a closed loop such that the free end hangs freely from the closed loop. A retention assembly is removably positioned on the belt and retains the free end against an outer surface of the belt. A weight is coupled to the retention assembly.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

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STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

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THE NAMES OF THE PARTIES TO A JOINT RESEARCH AGREEMENT

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INCORPORATION-BY-REFERENCE OF MATERIAL SUBMITTED ON A COMPACT DISC OR AS A TEXT FILE VIA THE OFFICE ELECTRONIC FILING SYSTEM.

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STATEMENT REGARDING PRIOR DISCLOSURES BY THE INVENTOR OR JOINT INVENTOR

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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION (1) Field of the Invention (2) Description of Related Art including information disclosed under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98.

The disclosure and prior art relates to belt retention devices and more particularly pertains to a new belt retention device for retaining a free end of a belt adjacent to an outer surface of the belt.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a belt having a buckle end, a free end and a buckle attached to the free end. The buckle releasably secures the belt in a closed loop such that the free end hangs freely from the closed loop. A retention assembly is removably positioned on the belt and retains the free end against an outer surface of the belt. A weight is coupled to the retention assembly.

There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.

The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S)

The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a front perspective view of a belt and free end securing system according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a side view of an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 3 is a rear view of an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 4 is a front perspective in-use view of an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 5 is a front view of an embodiment of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to FIGS. 1 through 4 thereof, a new belt retention device embodying the principles and concepts of an embodiment of the disclosure and generally designated by the reference numeral 10 will be described.

As best illustrated in FIGS. 1 through 4, the belt and free end securing system 10 generally comprises a belt 12 has a buckle end 14, a free end 16 and a buckle 18 attached to the buckle end 14. The buckle 18 releasably secures the belt 12 in a closed loop such that the free end 16 hangs freely from the closed loop. The belt 12 and buckle 18 are essentially conventional and the belt 12 typically has a height from a top edge 20 to a bottom edge 22 of less than 2.0 inches.

A retention assembly 26 is removably positioned on the belt 12 and retains the free end 18 against an outer surface 24 of the belt 12. This is needed as waist cinching belts, often worn around a woman's waist while wearing a dress or long blouse, do not have extra loops and the clothing also generally does not have extra loops, as would be found on jeans, for example. Therefore the free end 18 may hang freely and not be secured against the person's body.

The retention assembly 26 includes a tether 28 having first end 30 and a second end 32 and is flexible. The tether 28 may have a length from the first end 30 to the second end 32 that is between 1.0 inches 8.0 inches. While the tether 28 may include any flexible material used for cinching together two articles including ropes made of natural and synthetic materials, leather, plastics and the like, the tether 28 may in particular comprise a chain made of a metallic material.

A first mating member 34 is attached to the first end 30 and a second mating member 36 is attached to the second end 32. The first 34 and second 36 mating members are releasably engaged with each other to form a closed loop around the belt 12 to retain the free end 18 adjacent to the outer surface 24 of the belt 12. The first mating member 34 may comprise a stop and the second mating member 36 comprising a hoop through which the stop is extended. The stop, or first mating member 34, is oriented relative to the hoop, or second mating member 36, in a first position to be extendable through the hoop 36 and oriented in a second position to be non-extendable through the hoop 36. The stop 34 may in particular include a rod oriented perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of the tether such that its length is greater than a diameter of the hoop 36. Therefore the rod cannot be pulled through the hoop 36 when a longitudinal axis of the rod lies in plane that is coplanar with a plane of the hoop 36. In an embodiment shown in FIG. 5, the first mating member 34 instead comprises a clasp 44 that is releasably engageable with the hoop 36. The clasp 44 may comprise a conventional lobster claw type clasp, for example, which extends through and around a portion of the hoop 36.

A weight 38 is coupled to the retention assembly 26 and is positioned adjacent to the second mating member 36. The weight 38 includes a lead 40 that is attached to the second mating member 36 and a bulbous member 42 which is in turn attached to a distal end of the lead 40 with respect to the second mating member 36. The lead 40 may have a length greater than 2.0 inches. The lead 40 may also be comprised of any flexible material but may in particular be comprised of the same material used for the tether 28.

In use, the tether 28 is wound around the belt 12 and the first 34 and second mating 36 members joined to form a closed loop through which the free end 18 of the belt 12 is extended. When the weight 38 pulls on the tether 28, a free portion of the belt 12 from the buckle 16 to the free end 18 will be urged against the outer surface 24 of the belt 12 as shown in FIG. 4. This will prevent the free end 18 from swinging outwardly away from the belt 12 to be more comfortable and to provide a cleaner appearance.

With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure.

Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements. 

I claim:
 1. A belt and belt securing system comprising: a belt having a buckle end, a free end and a buckle attached to said buckle end, said buckle releasably securing said belt in a closed loop such that said free end hangs freely from said closed loop; a retention assembly being removably positioned on said belt and retaining said free end against an outer surface of said belt; and a weight being coupled to said retention assembly.
 2. The belt and belt securing system according to claim 1, wherein said retention assembly comprises: a tether having first end and a second end; and a first mating member being attached to said first end and a second mating member being attached to said second end, said first and second mating members being releasably engaged with each other to form a closed loop around said belt to retain said free end adjacent to said outer surface of said belt.
 3. The belt and belt securing system according to claim 2, wherein said tether has a length from said first end to said second end being between 1.0 inches 8.0 inches.
 4. The belt and belt securing system according to claim 2, wherein said tether comprises a chain.
 5. The belt and belt securing system according to claim 2, wherein said first mating member comprises a stop and said second mating member comprising a hoop through which said stop is extended, said stop being oriented relative to said hoop in a first position to be extendable through said hoop and oriented in a second position to be non-extendable through said hoop.
 6. The belt and belt securing system according to claim 5, wherein said stop includes a rod oriented perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of said tether.
 7. The belt and belt securing system according to claim 2, wherein said weight is positioned adjacent to said second mating member.
 8. The belt and belt securing system according to claim 7, wherein said weight includes a lead being attached to said second mating member and a bulbous member being attached to a distal end of said lead with respect to said second mating member.
 9. The belt and belt securing system according to claim 8, wherein said lead has a length greater than 2.0 inches.
 10. The belt and belt securing system according to claim 2, wherein said first mating member comprises a clasp and said second mating member comprises a hoop to which said clasp is removably engaged.
 11. A belt and belt securing system comprising: a belt having a buckle end, a free end and a buckle attached to said buckle end, said buckle releasably securing said belt in a closed loop such that said free end hangs freely from said closed loop; a retention assembly being removably positioned on said belt and retaining said free end against an outer surface of said belt, said retention assembly comprising: a tether having first end and a second end, said tether having a length from said first end to said second end being between 1.0 inches 8.0 inches, said tether comprising a chain; a first mating member being attached to said first end and a second mating member being attached to said second end, said first and second mating members being releasably engaged with each other to form a closed loop around said belt to retain said free end adjacent to said outer surface of said belt, said first mating member comprising a stop and said second mating member comprising a hoop through which said stop is extended, said stop being oriented relative to said hoop in a first position to be extendable through said hoop and oriented in a second position to be non-extendable through said hoop, said stop including a rod oriented perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of said tether; and a weight being coupled to said retention assembly, said weight being positioned adjacent to said second mating member, said weight including a lead being attached to said second mating member and a bulbous member being attached to a distal end of said lead with respect to said second mating member, said lead having a length greater than 2.0 inches. 